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414 

'"*' ^ CONSTITUTION 



OF THE 



Rhode Island Historical Society, 



ADOPTED, DECEMBER 20, 1870. 



P R O V I D E N C E : 

PUOVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY. PI{ INTERS. 



1871. 



CONSTITUTION 



OF THE 



Ehode Island Historical Society, 



ADOPTED, DECEMBER 20, 1870. 



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PROVIDENCE: 

PROVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS 



1871. 






n. ^,H A.^. S-a-^_ 



CONSTITUTION. 



ARTICLE I.— Of Membership. 

Section i. The Rhode Island His- 
torical Society shall be composed of 
Resident, Corresponding, Honorary and 
Life Members. 

Sec. 2. No person shall be eligible 
as a resident member, unless, at the time 
of his election, he shall reside in the 
State of Rhode Island; nor shall any 
person be eligible as a corresponding or 
honorary member who shall not, at the 
time of his election, be a resident out 
of said State. Life members may be 
either resident or non-resident. 

Sec. 3. No person shall be eligible 
as a member unless he be recommended 
by the committee on membership : and 
all votes on the admission of members 
shall be by ballot. 

Sec. 4. Whenever a vote shall be 



4 CONSTITUTION. 

taken on the admission of a member, 
and there shall be found three ballots 
against his admission, the presiding offi- 
cer counting the votes, shall declare the 
election postponed until the next regu- 
lar meeting of the Society. At the 
next meeting, if the recommendation 
of the committee be not withdrawn, 
he may be admitted by the major vote 
of the members present and voting. 

Sec. 5. Every corresponding or hon- 
orary member elect, who shall not ac- 
knowledge his membership in writing, 
or sign the constitution within one year 
from the time of his admission, shall 
not be considered a member of the 
society. 

Sec. 6. Each resident member shall, 
on his admission, pay an admission fee 
of five dollars ; and thereafter such tax 
or taxes as the society may impose, not 
exceeding three dollars, in any one year. 

A member on the payment at one 
time of fifty dollars to the treasurer, 
may become a member for life, and shall 
thereafter be exempt from all assess- 



CONSTITUTION. 5 

ments or annual tax, and shall be entitled 
to all the privileges of a resident mem- 
ber. 

Sec. 7. Neglect to pay any tax for 
the period of one year after demand in 
writing from the Treasurer, shall be 
deemed a withdrawal from the Society ; 
and the Treasurer is required to report 
the names of such delinquent members 
in order that they may be stricken from 
the rolls of the Society. 

Sec. 8. Resident and Life members 
alone shall be entitled to vote at the 
meetings of the Society. 

ARTICLE II.^Of Society Meetings. 

Section 1. The Society shall hold 
four regular meetings in each year ; on 
the third Tuesday in January, and on 
the first Tuesdays in April, July and 
October. 

Sec. 2. Special meetings shall be 
called by the Secretary on the written 
request of the President, or any five 
resident or life members. 



6 CONSTITUTION. 

Sec. 3. Notice of all regular or spe- 
cial meetings of the Society shall be 
given by advertisement thereof or other- 
wise as the Society may direct. 

Sec 4. Seven resident or life mem- 
bers shall constitute a quorum for the 
transaction of business. 

ARTICLE III. — Of Officfrs and their Duties. 

Section i. The officers of the So- 
ciety shall be a President, two Vice- 
Presidents, a Secretary, a Treasurer, one 
Librarian and Cabinet Keeper for the 
Northern, and one for the Southern 
Cabinet, a Committee on Nominations 
of new Members, a Committee on Lec- 
tures and Reading of Papers, a Com- 
mittee on Publications of the Society, a 
Committee on Care of Grounds and 
Buildings, and an Audit Committee. 
All of these Committees, excepting the 
Audit Committee, to consist of three 
resident or life members, and the Audit 
Committee to consist of two resident 
or life members. 

Sec. 2. The officers of the Society 



CONSTITUTION. 7 

shall be chosen at the regular meeting 
of the Society holden in January in each 
year, and shall hold their offices for one 
year and until others be elected in their 
places. In case the Society make no 
election at said meeting, they may do 
so at their next, or any other meeting 
regularly called, and they may fill any 
vacancy in any office at any regular 
meeting. 

Sec. 3. The President shall preside 
at all meetings, preserve order, give the 
casting vote, and perform such other du- 
ties as usually appertain to such an office. 
In his absence, one of the Vice Presi- 
dents shall discharge his duties, and in 
their absence, the Society may appoint 
a chairman for the meeting. 

Sec. 4. The Secretary shall keep a 
fair record of all the proceedings of the 
Society, and notify its meetings ; and 
shall be the organ of communication 
of the Society. 

Sec. 5. The Treasurer shall have 
charge of the pecuniary concerns of the 
Society,, shall collect all admission fees 



8 CONSTITUTION. 

and taxes, and shall pay all bills against 
the Society when properly audited. At 
the meeting in January he shall present 
his accounts, after they shall have been 
examined by the Audit Committee, and 
shall exhibit his books and papers to the 
Society when required. 

Sec. 6. The Librarians and Cabinet 
Keepers shall safely keep, in such places 
as the Society shall designate, all books, 
manuscripts, papers, documents and 
other articles committed to their charge. 
Members of the Society by consent of 
the Cabinet Keeper, shall have liberty to 
read or examine any book or manu- 
script in the cabinets, but will not be 
allowed to remove the same therefrom, 
unless by a special vote of the Society; 
and when thus removed, the person 
taking the same shall in each case sign 
a receipt therefore, conditioned to pay 
to the Society such sum of money as 
the Cabinet Keeper may deem, proper, 
in the event of its non-return to the 
Cabinet within three months from the 
date of receiving the same. 



CONSTITUTION. 9 

Sec. 7. "The Committee on Nomi- 
nation of New Members/' shall endeav- 
or to increase the number of mmbers 
of the Society, by propounding from 
time to time the names of such persons 
as they think will be desirable additions 
thereto, consent of such persons having 
been first obtained. 

Sec. 8. "The Committee on Lec- 
tures and Reading of Papers," shall en- 
deavor to have lectures and papers of a 
Historical character read before the 
Society, as often as possible, in order to 
maintain and increase an interest therein. 

Sec. 9. "The Committee on Pub- 
lications of the Society,'* shall have 
charge of the printing and binding of 
all publications of the Society, unless 
otherwise ordered by a special vote, and 
they shall from time to time recommend 
the printing of such matter in our col- 
lections or obtainable from other sources, 
as they may deem of importance and 
within the limit of our means. 

Sec. 10. "The Committee on Care 



lo CONSTITUTION. 

of Grounds and Buildings/' shall have 
the general charge of the grounds and 
buildings of the Society, see that they 
are kept in good order, and have au- 
thority to contract debts for expense 
of the same, not exceeding in any one 
year one hundred dollars, unless by 
special vote of the Society. 

Sec. II. The Audit Committee shall 
examine all claims on the Society be- 
fore they are presented to the Society to 
be acted on ; and shall, before the 
January meeting of the Society, ex- 
amine the Treasurer's accounts and re- 
port thereon. 

ARTICLE VI.— Of Amendments. 

This Constitution may be amended 
or repealed by a vote of two-thirds of 
the members present at any regular 
meeting of the Society, provided, that 
notice of such proposed amendment 
shall have been presented in w^riting at 
a previous meeting. 



CONSTITUTION. ii 

ARTICLE V. 

This Constitution shall go into full 
effect immediately. 

Resohedy That all Constitutions, By-Laws, Acts or 
Resolutions inconsistent with this Constitution, are 
hereby repealed. 

The above resolution and all the sec- 
tions of the Constitution, excepting sec- 
tions 7, 8, 9 and 10 of Article 3, were 
adopted November 15, 1870. 

True copy, 
ATTEST : GEO. T. PAINE, 

Secretary, 



OFFICERS FOR 1870. 



PRESIDENT, 

Hon. SAMUEL G. ARNOLD. 

VICE PRESIDENTS, 

Hon. ZACHARIAH ALLEN, 
Hon. GEORGE A. BRAYTON. 

SECRETARY, 

GEORGE T. PAINE. 

cabinet keeper northern depart- 
ment. 
Rev. EDWIN M. STONE. 

CABINET KEEPER SOUTHERN DEPART- 
MENT, 

BENJAMIN B. HOWLAND. 

TREASURER, 

RICHMOND P. EVERETT. 



iLS?,''^ ^^ CONGRESS 



014 075 393 2 



